Are you one of the many people who are contemplating whether or not to upgrade from Slack's free plan to one of the paid plans, but are unsure about the paid plans? Let's compare the free and paid plans now.
Limited functionalities in Free Plan
Let's talk about the limitations of the free plan because you should be aware of what a free plan does not include.
Messages’ Limit
Slack allows members to send an unlimited number of messages, but only the last 10,000 may be searched and viewed in your workplace. While searching, keep in mind that you'll only be able to see messages from public channels, private channels you belong to, and direct messages.
Members can keep sending messages if their workspace's message visibility limit is exceeded, but older messages will be archived. All archived communications will become available again if you upgrade your workspace to any of its premium plans.
Be advised to upgrade your plan since you can’t restrict teams to send only important messages because simple words like Hi, Okay, smilies, GIFs, files, and so on are also considered messages.
File Storage
Users must also contend with the workspace's 5GB storage limit. This limit applies to documents, audio/ video files, PDFs, screenshots, photos, etc., uploaded to a channel or a direct message.
Once the limit is reached, your team members can continue to upload files, but the members will not be able to access the archived file in channels, search results, or direct messages because Slack will begin archiving the older files to create a place for new ones.
As previously indicated, messages that exceed the limit are archived, so the files that exceed the limit are archived as well. Files that exceed the limit will be archived immediately and will become available as well if you upgrade to a paid plan. If you upgrade to a paid plan, the total number of members in your workspace will decide your file storage limits.
App Integration
If this context is taken into consideration, Slack is famed for its integrations; no other application can compete. Slack claims to be able to interface with up to 2500 apps, yet the free plan only allows for ten app integrations like Office 365, Google Drive, and so on. This limit is applied to apps from the Slack app directory, as well as custom apps created for your team.
If you wish to link the platform with an eleventh app, you'll have to uninstall one of the existing integrations or upgrade to a subscription plan if you want to integrate with additional apps.
No Group Calls
Unless you upgrade to a subscription plan, all you can do with Slack's free plan is make one-on-one audio/video calls. You can't make a group audio/video call using it.
Because you can't add more than one member to a video call when using the freemium plan, you won't be able to hold team conferences unlike Microsoft Teams free plan, which does affect your business.
Advantages of Slack’s Paid Plans
Before upgrading to a paid plan, it is critical to review Slack costs and features. Other than the free plan, Slack has three premium plans to choose from, which includes.
- Pro
Small and medium-sized businesses will benefit from the Standard plan, which costs $2.67 per month.
- Business+
The Plus package is suitable for larger businesses or those with more administrative needs. The first month's price is $5.
- Enterprise Grid
For extra-large businesses or regulated industries, the Enterprise Grid design is recommended. You must contact the sales team to obtain a tailored estimate.
Some of the benefits of opting for Slack's paid plans are listed below.
Screen Sharing
You can share the screen with your colleague while on a call. This feature, like the audio/video clips, is only available to premium customers.
Group Calls
The Slack paid plans like Pro, Business+, Enterprise Grid will allow you to add up to 15 members in your audio/ video calls, unlike the free plan.
Guest Users
Small businesses may communicate with vendors, merchants, and others outside the company more easily with the Standard price plans by adding them as guest users. Admins can grant visitors access to one or more Slack channels by sending invitations.
App Integrations
The goal of integrations is to make Slack more powerful and better than its competitors. Beyond the 10-app limit, you can integrate more apps. Slack's ability to integrate a variety of apps from various categories means that you don't lose out on any opportunities to increase productivity.
## SAML based Single Sign-On (SSO)
This single sign-on (SSO) feature lets you Slack through your preferred identity provider (IDP.) It’s only available to Business+ and Enterprise Grid users.
Unlimited Workspaces
While the free, Pro, and Business+ subscriptions only allow for one workspace, Enterprise Grid users can establish several workspaces. Large companies can't function comfortably with just one Slack workplace. They require a workspace that allows each of the organization's multiple teams to work in a focused and separate environment.
It gives teams and members access to other team members, important information, and tools that can help them be more productive and functional with their projects.
I hope that after reading this in-depth comparison, you'll be able to make an informed decision on whether it's worthwhile to upgrade from Slack's free plan to the paid plan.
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